Not the only one
by kiku65
Summary: Just a little oneshot I did while feeling mushy. Looks at the other parentchild relationships in SW. Reviews give authors hope.


**1Not the only one**

Pretty much as the title suggest. The father/son theme of SW is paramount in the trilogies... but Anakin and Luke aren't the only parent and child team out there. This looks at some of the others. Written from a first-person perspective.

Mushy. You have been warned.

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**Jango Fett:**

It's funny, kid, but bounty hunters don't get involved with children much. There aren't often prices put on the heads of infants, and I've never dealt with the scum who make an exception to that rule.

Even those worthless di'kuts who _do_ murder younglings have never had to do this. No self-respecting bounty hunter ever got up in the middle of the night for a squalling baby like you, and they certainly wouldn't have spent the remainder of their sleep period juggling you back and forth and trying to get you to sleep. Who would have thought such a small person could make so much _noise_?

You might be quiet now, kid, but soon you will wake up again and start crying. I don't think you've stopped since you came out of that tube six months ago. I haven't slept a full night for six months, kid, and it's all your fault. I hope you feel guilty, you little rest-robber.

Ah, now you're starting to wake up. I know what's going to happen now. You'll open your eyes, start howling, and I'm going to end up changing nappies, feeding you or rocking you for the next hour or so. Why did I think I was cut out for this?

Your eyes are open, but you aren't crying. Well good. I'm tired. I don't want to sing any more lullabies. Osik, if anyone found out I sang lullabies to a baby I'd never be hired again.

Now you are smiling. That's a very cute smile, kid, but it isn't going to work. Ok, neither are the chuckles. Why do you have to do this perfect-baby act at 2am? Why can't you save it for when I'm fully awake?

Maybe I should just rest a bit. I've slept in chairs before, it's not that uncomfortable. In fact, this on is very nice and well padded, with arm rests to keep you safe. I think I'll just hunker down a bit and take a nap. If you wriggle and fall, that's your problem.

Didn't I tell you the smile isn't working? Do I look like a man who will fall for a smile from someone who has no teeth? Quit blowing bubbles, I only just changed you. And stop using my jumpsuit as a dummy. How can I hunt people with baby drool all over me?

That doesn't mean you can start using my finger instead. Do I look like a giant dummy to you? Sithspit, I'm being bullied by someone who burps up their dinner up on my shoulder.

Thank every god, you're going back to sleep. I'm so grateful I'll even let you keep the finger. Now please stay that way. Please. I can't drop dead from exhaustion in front of Darth Tyranus. It doesn't bear thinking about. I'm going to rest before you start demanding a nappy change.

It's funny, kid... you're kinda sweet when you're asleep. A endearing face, when it isn't screwed up in a tantrum. And you're so small. Was I ever that small? How can someone that tiny ever grow up to be like me?

You little sneak, you've crept somewhere you shouldn't even know about. I've been outmanoeuvred by a child. I just wanted an heir. Just that, someone to teach what's left of the Mando'ade traditions to. An apprentice for Jaster.

But you aren't just that anymore, are you? You're much, much more.

You're Boba Fett. My son.

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**Bail Organa:**

Little princess, I can't believe how much you have grown. Four years isn't very long for grownups. In four years we change very little, but you have turned from a gurgling, cooing baby to a little lady. Stars above, you are almost grown up at four years old.

You look so like your mother. I can only imagine how Vader hasn't recognised you. You have your mothers' looks, her smile, her laugh, and her eyes. You put your hand on your hips and tilt your head the same way when you are annoyed. You have her spirit. The only place I can see Vader in you is in your temper, and that is not frightening. Not yet.

It will change, my precious little one. You will have to learn how to control that temper, lest it destroy your life as it did Vaders. It will be hard for you. You will be angry and scared in the future, you will see injustice, the loss of freedom, all the things we see now and can do nothing about. One day you will probably have to face the man who killed your mother, or the one who lead him to do so...

But for now you laugh and play will the ball I brought you from Corellia. I can look at my wife and see her smile with you. Dearest one, if you bring nothing else to our lives than her smile, I will gladly face whatever the future may bring. You have given us so much, and I wish you were old enough to understand.

Breha loved you the moment you were put into her arms. You were a beautiful baby, and I will never forget the smile on her face when she gazed down at you. Our wonderful little gift, who brought hope and happiness to us.

You cried when I took you onto my ship. You bawled your heart out, and your little hands clung at the air as if reaching for something. I will never know what, whether it was for your twin brother, who you had been with you the whole of your life, or your dead mother, who had died as you cried in the arms of a droid. Maybe it was for both of them.

You sniffled and whimpered the whole way to Alderaan, and drove me to my wits end. If you can express yourself that clearly in the Senate, child, then you will be the greatest Senator that ever walked those hallways. I had comforted you as best I could, until you had cried yourself to sleep. And then we had landed.

You woke when I put you in the arms of my wife, and from that moment on you two loved each other like a true mother and daughter. How I smiled when I saw you together, and the joy you brought- and still bring- the only woman I have ever loved. The light that seemed to shine whenever we entered your playroom, or leaned over you at night to watch you sleep. Maybe the darkness now is necessary, because stars grow in darkness, do they not? And you have been our star.

You hold a hand around our souls, young one. From the moment you and Breha gazed at each other, you have crept your way into her heart, and you grew in her love. But for me the moment came a little later, by almost a year, when I watched you play in front of me and you had turned.

You had turned, and gazed at me with the eyes of your mother and her husband combined, and you had called me 'papa'.

Your first word, my special little princess. With your first word you stopped any fears I might have had, and told me who you were.

You're Leia Organa. My daughter.

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**Jacen Solo:**

It is so amazing, that this little scrap of flesh and bone I am holding is another person, a miniature human being that is half me, and half the woman I love. Your me, and not me, you are her, and not her. You are both of us, and you are yourself. It is a little frightening to be holding a completely new person in your arms.

You laugh very loud, little one. Your whole body shakes when you do. Most of the time you are like me, and just lay in your mothers arms quietly, as if you are already watching the world. You are silent, but when you laugh I can hear your soul rejoicing in the giggles.

I hope you never lose that laugh, or that happiness. I hope your life is filled with this strangeness I feel around you, this wonderful feeling. I hope you live long and happily, I hope you will be taught without pain, I hope you will grow and be strong, and brave like your mother, I hope you will know yourself like I have.

You are so small, so fragile, and the galaxy is so big and dark and fearsome. If you were ever to venture into it as it is now, you wouldn't last more than a day. It would eat you, swallow you whole. That is why I have to do this, dear one. That is why I must leave soon, and I will most likely not see you like this again for a very long time.

But I am still happy. It shouldn't be possible to be this happy. Or maybe happy is the wrong word. Happiness is getting your favourite meal for dinner, it's playing with your brother and sister until your parents call you inside. Happiness is a smaller thing than this.

It could be contentment, but that is still wrong. Contentment is quiet, and this feeling makes me want to shout out from the top of the palace. It makes me want to laugh and cry and smile and frown and play and sit still and hold you forever, keep you safe. No, this is not contentment.

Maybe joy is better. It is closer, it is louder, and certainly whenever I see your face I want to grin like Anakin used to, to laugh like he used to, carefree and careless. But joy is bubbling and light, it cares nothing for the future and I am very afraid for yours. My precious little girl, you look so tiny and helpless as I hold you that I wonder how you can ever survive the world outside this room.

Oh, now I know. How could I not have known what this was. You small, magical little child of mine, you have made me forget all I have learned, from my parents, from the World Brain, from Tenal Ka. Only you could make me forget those lessons, only you could ever give me freedom from the past. Even if you were not mine, I would still cherish you for this.

Listen carefully, little one. I can only say this once, before I leave and may never come back. Listen, and know.

I love you, little one. I love every inch of you, I love you when you are asleep, when you are awake, when you are happy, when you are sad, when you laugh, and when you cry. No matter what happens, no matter whom might try to take this from us, I love you, and I always have, and I always will.

You are Alanna. You are my daughter.


End file.
